Exercise

Exercise. It's a dreaded word. It's a time of my day that involves sweating a lot more than I think I should for a lot less bodily impact than I want it to have, but it is something that I know I need. Especially when I love the things I love so much. Like bread. And Ice Cream. And Cookies.

But sometimes, exercise can also be exhilarating, and make your whole day better. There is something more than scientific to the feeling you get after working out, or the feeling of sore muscles the next day. The feeling of your body after a few weeks of working out, that feeling of health and wellness that starts to affect your emotions, your outlook and even your lifestyle choices, that is what I can appreciate. I may always struggle to keep working out. I may never make it past my purple five pound weights. But that's what persistence and the three pound weights are for.

Hebrews

I read through the back half of the book of Hebrews today. It was one of those moments where I was so engrossed in the thoughts running through the book that I was actually checking the clock to make sure I had time to finish before heading to work. That doesn't always happen with the Bible. There are so many temptations, so many distractions, and so many genealogies or passages that become so familiar you gloss over them. I don't know how many times I've actually read Hebrews. I know I've heard a number of sermons on the chapter about faith - the faith of the founders of Israel. But how much have I taken in of the argument for Christianity that is taking place in this book?

There is a straight up speech happening here, an attempt not only to persuade people to Christ, but seemingly to persuade a single type of people to Christ. The writer of Hebrews has a heart for the people he was raised with and around, a heart for the people that he is a part of. Sometimes I forget that the mission field is my back door.

Our sermon this Sunday dealt with this as well, the idea that the people we need to be reaching, the vision of our church should be on our streets, not within our walls. We need to be outward focused, not inwardly distracted. Even some of the sermons I have been listening to from Mars Hill have emphasized this lately, and here, sitting in front of me in the book of Hebrews this morning, I was still almost stunned by the verses sitting in front of me. Like it was a new revelation.

I am amazed by the heart of this author. He didn't say, like so many of us do. "Jesus Loves You. That should be enough". Instead he walked with his people through their culture and their inheritance and with great intelligence brought them to the fact that Jesus is the way. Implications of love, of hope for a better tomorrow, for a family in heaven and an inheritance of heaven are throughout, but he didn't dumb it down, or water it down. He told us why we should believe in Christ from the very beginning of the Bible until his present time.

So how do I take his example and take it to my streets. Living Christ's love, and not shying away from hard conversations about how I know that Jesus is Lord, or why I believe that he is the only way to salvation and to everlasting life with him in Heaven. I should love my people, my neighbors, my friends and family enough to tell them the truth, even if it is hard, in an intelligent way, not in cliché words that they will ignore or simply wave away with a "yes, I know".

Thank goodness for the Holy Spirit because I couldn't even come to this on my own. Now I should share this joy, hope, peace, love, and salvation, with those around me. All of those around me.

Picture for Aug 25th 2013 - Tassadar

This is my Tassadar cat. His little mustache face makes him quite possibly the most adorable looking cat ever. But don't tell Fenix, he'll get jealous and throw a temper tantrum. Tassers wasn't quite sure what I was doing with a camera in his face at 10 at night, but he hammed it up anyway. There is only so much a cat can protest attention before he remembers, that is what he lives for.